Getting Restaurant Iced Tea At Home

By Jessica

We really do love our tea here at Food Lush. I have one half of an entire cabinet at home devoted to all types and brands of teas and it's my go-to beverage at restaurants. I am an "unsweetened with lemon" person when it comes to standard restaurant iced tea because sweet tea in the south or south adjacent Texas (there is some argument as to whether or not Texas is actually the south) makes me gag and gives me sweaters on my teeth. So. Much. Sugar. ICK. 

At any rate, there are restaurant iced teas that stand alone and are better than the rest, of course, and as such I'd love to be able to drink them at home as well.

Café Express serves a black currant tea that we love and I think if I made it at home? My husband might not drink anything else. The exact tea is made by Duncan Coffee Company, $10.95 for 1/2 lb of loose tea. Another option is the Black Currant Iced Tea from Harney & Sons, 6 (2 qt) pouch tin is $8.

Pei Wei serves two iced teas: Vanilla Spice Chai Black Tea and Mandarin Orange Green Tea. At my local restuarant you can purchase jugs of the tea to take home with you. The Vanilla Spice Chai is pretty difficult to replicate, mainly because that balance of flavors in a chai that you don't need milk or sugar to offset and can drink over ice? HARD. Which is why I LOVE that tea. But there are tons of options for the Mandarin Orange: Adagio, Lipton, Celestial Seasonings just to name a few.

La Madelaine serves a mango tea by Ibis Moon. You can purchase it from Royal Cup Coffee directly but it's in a wholesale quantity 24-4 oz bags $56.10

And finally Mission Burrito serves a hibiscus iced tea (as does Empire Café on occasion) for that there are a couple of good options from Republic of Tea: Blueberry Hibiscus or Natural Hibiscus

Do you have a favorite restaurant iced tea?

Comments

[Christy M]

I'm a transplant and I happen to like southern sweet tea. I can't stand chai anything, but different strokes, I guess.

[Jen L.]

Since I had to cut a lot of caffeine out of my life, I have started turning to tea. I LOVE black currant tea. Jason's Deli, where I like to go for salad, has it iced, which is a nice break from water with my meal. Have you tried Lady Grey? If you like Earl Grey, it's similar, only with a milder bergamont flavor.

[Jen L.]

Oops....wasn't done. :P I was going to say that the Lady Grey tea is one I first tried iced at a restaurant in NYC. It's really good with a little squeeze of lemon juice. It feels like you're treating yourself.